September 2012

Can’t get enough of AK? We watched the Grammy Award-winning artist debut a new song during her iTunes Music Festival performance in London. Here, Alicia Keys pays a visit to British show Alan Carr: Chatty Man to promote her upcoming Girl on Fire LP due November 27. With backup singers and showing off her dance moves, Keys performs her song “New Day.”

Kid Cudi’s putting the final touches on his upcoming Indicud LP. While no release date’s been announced, Cudder gives his fans a treat as he previews the song “King Wizard” that’ll appear on his third solo album.

After nine years of delays and controversy, the dream Jay-Z envisioned came to life in his hometown of Brooklyn, New York. The son of BK officially christened the new billion-dollar Barclays Center on Friday evening with the first of eight concerts. The man who grew up in Marcy Projects, 15-minutes away from the arena, appeared on stage following an all-Brooklyn DJ set from Hot 97’s Mister Cee. In all-black, the moment Jay-Z appeared on stage was also an unveiling as for the first time he unveiled the Brooklyn Nets’ basketball jersey that players will wear this upcoming season in their new home.

His set opened up with the classic “Where I’m From” followed by “Brooklyn We Go Hard,” and a cover of Biggie’s “Kick in the Door.” After a crowd rendition of B.I.G.’s “Juicy,” Jay-Z got into his catalogue of songs including “Big Pimpin,” “Jigga My N***a,” “Dead Presidents,” “Can I Live,” and “Murda Marcyville.” At one point during the show, he debuted a new verse before getting into “99 Problems.” The night ended at first with “Encore,” but in classic Jay-Z fashion he returned for a second set that included “What More Can I Say, “Clique,” “Do It Again,” “3 Kings,” and more. Leading up to the night, Hov revealed there would be no guests at any of the eight shows, but last night brought out one. Big Daddy Kane, the man who gave Jay his first opportunity on the 1994 single “Show & Prove,” appeared on stage and performed his classics “Ain’t No Half Steppin’,” “Set It Off,” and “Warm It Up Kane.”

Currently rocking the first of eight sold out shows, Jay-Z graced the pricey high-tech stage at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and used the moment for a premiere. Before going into his Black Album hit-single “99 Problems,” Jay used the silent moment to debut a new verse as he donned his personalized #4 Brooklyn Nets jersey.

“This is Rich Porter, part two/ You can stunt like that when you’re rich before your debut
Money and the murder, rapper or the trapper/ Either way I’m gonna serve ya
Shooters on my team… No really, I got shooters on my team
Juan or Deron/ How you niggas want it, pick a arm
They call me Lucky Lefty…/ Ball so hard I don’t respect the fuckin’ referees.”

It’s a big night in downtown Brooklyn…and a general major milestone for hip hop. Tonight, Jay-Z kicks off the Barclay’s Center Opening(Home of the BK Nets) with a 8-show concert series in his hometown of Brooklyn. Rumors about who Hov will surprise the crowd with are already thick with names like Kanye West (but he’s in Paris!), Rihanna, Rick Ross, Beyonce and more. Though, Jay did playfully told RollingStone that he wouldn’t be bringing a single guest out because this was his night to be “selfish.” We’re still sure there will be some surprises and some monumental moments. We’ll be here all night long covering the action, so stay tuned!

MissInfo: On Thursday, I got a chance to get a tour of the empty stadium, and a sneak peek at the high-tech stage. As you can see, it’s unlike any other stage because it’s two completely angled walls of video screens. And cut into the walls are small platforms for Jay’s band. Insiders told me that the crew even has to dismantle and re-set up the drum kit to allow the instruments to fit through the opening!

Oh, one other thing….at the opening party of the in-stadium 4040 Club, DJ SNS told me a story of a friend who just came home from doing a 9-year prison bid. He just got a job at Barclay Center, and was so thankful that they were hiring locally and allowing ex-cons like him to get a chance to get back on their feet. So that’s a positive story, in the midst of some of the more vocal protests about the stadium.

Check out more from tonight’s Jay-Z concert (still going on now!) including the Notorious B.I.G. visual and live tweets from the event….After the jump!

Alicia Keys traveled across the Atlantic to perform at the iTunes Music Festival in London, England on Friday. The beautiful songstress kicked off the show with “New Day,” delivering a 15-song set of classics including “You Don’t Know My Name,” “Unthinkable,” “Fallin,” and “No One.” Fans got hear her current single “Girl on Fire,” and got quite a surprise in the form of a new song titled “Brand New Me.” The personal record, co-written with Scottish singer Emeli Sandé is expected to appear on her Girl on Fire album due November 27.

Watch as Alicia debuts “Brand New Me,” plus the full concert after the jump…..

“When everybody hears the Adam Levine record, I think they gonna go crazy. I want that to hit people in the face. It’s a real dope record.”

While he remained quiet about the collaboration with the pop star, he did also note to expect features from G.O.O.D. Music’s John Legend and Pusha T. He also expects some controversy to come his way once the album hits stores.

“I definitely know I’m going to catch a lot of shit for this album and a lot of people are gonna be mad. But I think more people will appreciate it and more people will be understanding to it. Controversy is not something that I shy away from.”

Kanye West made his way to France for Paris Fashion Week on Friday. Dressed in all-black sporting the classic Air Jordan 1’s, Yeezy and crew attended the Christian Dior womenswear show to watch the beautiful models preview the line’s Spring/Summer 2013 collection. The stylish-MC whose G.O.O.D. Music Cruel Summer album is out now, sat front row besides the likes of Gaia Repossi, Leelee Sobieski, and Olivia Palermo.

More photos from ‘Ye at the 2013 Christian Dior womenswear show after the jump…..

The highlight of the annual BET Hip-Hop Awards are the cyphers. This year’s award show goes down this weekend at the Atlanta Civic Center, hosted by Mike Epps. Fans won’t see the show until the following week on Tuesday, October 9th at 8 p.m. EST. Until then, the network will be releasing previews of their cyphers up until the taped show airs. Today we get the first sneak peek as Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, DJ Quik, Xzibit, YG, Kurupt, and E-40 round out the west coast edition.

Buying a gift for an artist as successful as Lil’ Wayne can be pretty hard, but don’t tell Nicki Minaj that. The Harajuku Barbie hit Twitter earlier this afternoon to reveal her birthday gift for Weezy, a $70,000 T-Rex cyclecar. The bright red 3-wheeler is light, weighing only 1,040 pounds. It reaches a maximum fast speed of 150mph and orginally retails for $50,000. But Nicki made sure to add some nice details to it including a message at the back which reads “Nicki Loves Tunechi.” The car was delivered to Wayne during his 30th birthday celebration in Hollywood on Thursday night.